What should your small business be looking for from a digital marketing firm? Many companies do not know where to start. Phil, a small business owner, helped me uncover what your company needs to know to hire the best firm available.
A digital marketing firm should keep you well informed by reviewing your monthly performance in a personal meeting. A quality marketer will have research and analytic tools to develop effective strategies. Most firms of this caliber will start at $100/hr and up, but should also do their best to work within your budget. Ultimately whoever you hire should work with you closely and bring you the results you desire.
Questions and Answers about Digital Marketing for a small businesses.
These questions and answers are from a customer interview.
What should a small business look for when hiring a digital marketing firm?
“I needed someone who would respect MY limited budget.” 1 Phil needed to know what to do. He also wanted to understand why he should do what was suggested. He was not interested in just getting monthly reports with no personal direction. He understands that action must be driven by insight, and insight derived from data. But, he is most concerned about the action part of the equations.
He also wanted to spend some one on one time on the phone going over the past month’s changes. Then choose tasks for him and his wife, along with myself, to do during the coming month.
What to expect during a meeting with a digital marketing or SEO specialist?
Phil expects productive meetings. During our meetings, we start out with a review of the last month. We look at changes in his online lead generation activity and overall visits. We then look for opportunities to bring relevant traffic to his website. To save money, Phil and his wife Kelly continue to write most of the content. We discuss things like suggested topics, keywords to use, post length, etc. This guidance helps make their work, work harder for them.
What have you learned from working on your Digital Marketing?
Phil says he has learned quite a bit. For example, he did not have the tools or knowledge to find out want search phrases were bringing visitors to his competitor’s websites. He also did not know how to find search volumes on different search phrases. Knowing the search volume and level of competition for different search phrases lets them write better blog posts.
He also learned how to write content that answers questions. Well over 50% of web searches are now initiated by voice. Make sure that your content answers questions, as well as featuring the best keywords.
Phil also found the dashboards display of his top search impressions by query listed next to his top clicks by query to be helpful. This lets him see where there are content and meta description issues that are holding back site visits.
What can you expect as part of a small business digital marketing plan?
You should expect to have personal one on one time with your consultant at least one time a month. Your SEO consultant should have access to best-of-class analytics and research tools. He or she should be your partner and seek to communicate both data and insights as part of your relationship. You should be working with the same person month to month.
You should have tools such as a custom digital marketing dashboard. Your dashboard lets you see the results and trends of your digital marketing program. Also, your digital marketing consultant should answer your questions. They should also show you how the tasks they suggest will help you meet your goals.
Lastly, your SEO consultant should respect you and your budget. The answer to every question should not be “spend more money”.
What is your favorite part of our meetings?
Phil likes the SEO and SEM dashboard that we set up. This is a password protected page that shows month by month data in the following areas.
- Website visits
- Search QueriesLocal Business Listing performance
- Traffic Sources and platforms (desktop, mobile, tablet)
- Most popular pages
- User session length and page view trends.
- Google Ads performance
- And More.
He can select any month over the last 13 months. This lets him see the effects of the SEO work we have done together as well as account for seasonal variations, etc.
Is it worthwhile for a small business to hire a digital marketing company?
Phil feels that the knowledge and tools that are brought to his marketing program are well worth the cost. It lets him do what he does best while getting the help he needs to build his business.
How much do small business SEO and Digital Marketing cost?
This a question that Herb from Invite Them Home SEO Services is best able to answer. An effective small business digital marketing program is going to start at about 4 or so hours of professional help per month. The hourly cost of this will vary by region, but quality SEO services are going to start at a billing rate of about $100 hr hour and up. It is common that your first month or two will require more time for research and analysis. You should start to see results in about 3 months.
What is most surprising about working with Invite Them Home?
Phil said, “We talked about more than simply getting visitors to our website”. Phil was surprised that we discussed and worked on several areas. For example, one of the first things we did was look at his Google My Business listing. Phil’s listing was ok but was not optimized to perform well for him. He was getting very few visits to his local listing. We looked at the most effective service listings and defined his service area. We started featuring posts from his website to provide insight and interest in what he does.
I do Digital Marketing including SEO, SEM, and Social Media for organizations large and small. Some of my favorite customers are small businesses. It is fun to have a personal stake in its success.
This blog post grew out of a conversation I had with Phil Landry. He and his wife Kelly pictured to the right are the owners of C3E Geomatics.
C3E Geomatics is a land surveying company in southeastern Wisconsin. Phil and his wife moved into the area about 3 years ago. After receiving his Wisconsin surveying license, he struck out on his own.
Like most businesses, he found it a challenge to get noticed in the marketplace. He and his wife worked on their website, and it’s content but knew that they needed to do better to build their business.
